Citra-Solv Paintings Complete!

For The Most Part Anyway...

I never thought my week could get any busier until this last one rolled around. Never a dull moment around here. The Hubby and I have decided that I need to go back to work. After three years of being at home with my kids I am going to be an Art Educator again. I have mixed feelings about this transition, and am hoping for the best.  My kids were preoccupied with swim lessons, while I was hurrying around to various appointments trying to get all my paperwork in for this new position. 

I really felt this week didn't give me any downtime to do what I truly wanted to be doing, which was working on my new feltie project using watermelons and popsicles. Piecing and sewing some of the details of the popsicle feltie started last Saturday which was a plus, but sadly that's as far as I got. Since sewing and any other creative moment was lost this past week, I decided I would show you guys what I have accomplished so far with my Citra-Solv paintings.

Over the past couple of months, I have been trying to paint through some of the pages I made with Citra-Solv.  Several of these paintings came from the post Cabin Fever. Being inspired by metal and finding interesting images within the ink on the paper created by the Citra-Solv, allowed me to produce a variety of images

"Mouse in Flight"

"Pick'n Up Rocks"

"Envelope"

"Hand Crank Grinder"

"Caterpillars on Metal"

"Chains"

"Lines to Flower"

"Lines to Flower" was created differently from the other paintings. This is a textile painting. The girls image was created with acrylic ink, and then left to dry. Once I was satisfied with my painting, I cut a piece of muslin to fit the page. I soaked the muslin in my glue/water solution. Then rung out the excess, and laid it out flat. I added my painting on top of the muslin. Last but not least, I brushed on the glue/water solution onto the entire image. Once dry the stitching was added by sewing machine. If you want to see more about this process, head on over to view my post about painting on textile paper.

I hope that this new journey with my new school and students will continue to help me grow as an Artist, an Art Educator, and just as a person as a whole. Now I am really going to have to learn how to juggle a career and a family, while creating my art on the side. Its going to be tricky, but I know I can figure it out. If you have any suggestions on how to do this I would love to here from you!